Comments on: Why Do We Want Autistic Kids to Have Superpowers?http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 20:10:00 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.5By: Leonie Avril Doverhttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/#comment-5058
Thu, 29 Jan 2015 19:53:00 +0000http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/?p=930#comment-5058I have Autism and no superpowers and because I have so called ‘high functioning’ autism, the internet and other people think I am either good at computers and science or I am low functioning with a learning disability but that’s not the case. I have an IQ slightly below average (around 80), I can talk perfectly but I am the worst at ICT and Science and aswell as that, the meltdowns I have also make them think I am low functioning. I have them every day, they are huge and scary.
]]>By: Brian Toohttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/#comment-612
Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:45:05 +0000http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/?p=930#comment-612Why do we create these fantasies about autistic people having superpowers?

It’s all about hope. To lose hope is a terrible thing. Therefore autistic superpowers give us hope for those who lack something in their makeup. No one really wants to say “that child is permanently impaired and will lead a life defined by their limitations.”

Fortunately I don’t think this is entirely delusional. The brain is wonderfully adapable and most children can be reached. It may take a while but if you find what makes a child tick, what motivates them, they can flourish. However in most cases this is not a superpower per se.

]]>By: velhttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/#comment-611
Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:28:55 +0000http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/?p=930#comment-611oh and Em? if this is so true that your son has magic powers, take him to a veteran’s hospital. Or is that a bit too much for you to keep your delusion?
]]>By: velhttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/#comment-610
Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:27:46 +0000http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/?p=930#comment-610parents want to imagine their children are something “special” and not the same children we once often called “mentally retarded”. I would have probably be classificed as someone with Asperger’s if autism were the catchphrase back in the early 70s. I was just seen as a bit odd then, and not particularly special. If you are intelligent you can compensate for being not innately interested in being social, autistic or not.
]]>By: Shantihttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/#comment-609
Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:35:26 +0000http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/?p=930#comment-609@Anne: Give it about a year and a half if you really want to see how an autistic author takes on savant ability. Although I never refer to it as that and I don’t like to make things obvious. It’s got more to do with synaesthesia and a special relationship with colours because of it.

As someone with autism who has only ever had a natural ability at artistic skills and word puzzles I’m sort of on the fence about savantism or splinter skills, as they are sometimes called.

Through my mimicry of certain author’s styles I learnt how to write. I’ve been struggling with reading and writing all my life even after all the English remedial classes. Now I’m trying to write my own novel that will hopefully give people a glimpse into the everyday experience of an autistic. Those things the experts can only guess through observation and research studies.

My skills to me personally are compensation for my lack of interpersonal skills, severe sensory processing issues and even basic skills that I still haven’t got the hang of. To me they offer me comfort. Sometimes savants can feel me with hope or with dread.
But on those really stressful days it’s just good to know I have some talents. Not savantism by any means, unless you count barely a second passing in between looking for words on a find-a-word puzzle, which helps me block out distressing sensory information.

As for Touch…I was a bit disappointed. One, because they could say Jake had special needs more than being autistic which must just be such a horrible thing to call a child. There’s still a stigma attached to autism that says we are these empty vessels with no emotion and all we care about doing are those silly purposeless rituals. Those silly purposeless rituals are actually quite calming but there is more to us than them.
It just made me think of Indigo Children which people believe in. A lot of people actually believe autistic people can be psychic. And everything being connected it was just illogical to me. Maybe I’m just too literal and boring for the show.

I think the math genius stereotype has been done to death too. Yeah it exists but some of us are actually quite talented artists too.

]]>By: Laurahttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/#comment-608
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:45:38 +0000http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/?p=930#comment-608I have two sons who are on the autism spectrum. My older son is severely autistic, has limited (but growing) verbal communication skills, and is generally considered to be relatively low-functioning. He has no “splinter skills” or “savant skills” as far as we can see. My younger son has an Asperger’s diagnosis, is very verbal and high-functioning, though he also has significant issues with social skills and some academics. But he has an amazing memory for details, dates, and the like; can perform calendar calculation (you tell him a date, and he can tell you what day of the week it will be); can multiply large numbers in his head; has perfect pitch and is very accomplished at the piano. So I have a hard time seeing the splinter skill as “compensatory.”

Ever since my older son was diagnosed, I absolutely cringe at Rain Man references. You may recall that in the toothpick-counting scene, the Tom Cruise character’s perception of his brother completely changes. Suddenly, he’s not just a middle-aged burden with a really rigid TV-watching schedule and intense preferences in underwear. Suddenly, he sees that Raymond has a skill that is useful, that he has something to contribute. And I see this pattern over and over in media portrayals of the person with autism. Here’s a person who is uncommunicative and isolated, often with behaviors that are painful to watch, a person who seemingly has no way to connect with the rest of us. But wait! He can play Mozart by ear! He can draw the entire London Underground map from memory! He can count cards in a casino! NOW suddenly he’s worth a second look and worth getting to know. Now the typical person has a way of connecting with the person with autism. In reality, connecting with many people with autism can be difficult, but it is intensely worthwhile for everyone involved. No superpowers required.

]]>By: Tracyhttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/#comment-607
Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:52:59 +0000http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/?p=930#comment-607We keep hoping that our don with autism will develop some useful special talent or interest or something so that he has a chance to be self sufficient and self supporting one day. We had Jim in our forties and our greatest concern is what will happen up him when we are gone. So if he developed a superpower that would be awesome. But right now we’re focusing on ordinary life skills.
]]>By: Leahttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/#comment-606
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:03:57 +0000http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/?p=930#comment-606Amen Elise Ronan! You said exactly what I was going to.
]]>By: Jennie Bhttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/#comment-605
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:46:43 +0000http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/?p=930#comment-605This is a tough one, because ultimately the show needs to be entertaining, and it was. (Though I suspect it isn’t going to hold up over time.) There are plenty of shows about NT people with special powers, so why not have a person with autism have special powers? (The social worker in the show did actually use the word “autistic” at one point.)

On the other hand, we don’t have enough accurate portrayals of people with autism to counter the ones with hidden powers. Agree with Anne that it would be great to see stories written by autistic people themselves.

As the parent of a non-verbal child with autism, I do spend a lot of time wondering what he is thinking about and how he sees the world. With all his daily struggles to get through a complicated and overwhelming world, and people who underestimate what he can do, these stories are fantasies where we can say “see – he’s smarter than the rest of you.” There are stories like this everywhere. But of course, I know my son doesn’t need to have special powers to be a smart, wonderful person exactly who he is.

]]>By: Lisahttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2012/02/01/why-do-we-want-autistic-kids-to-have-superpowers/#comment-604
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:44:18 +0000http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/?p=930#comment-604When I saw ads for TOUCH, I got excited, hoping it would work to humanize autistic people, but the mystical properties to the show thoroughly turned me off. The producers turned autism into a joke, and that’s just sad.
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